It is desirable for an abdominal exercise device to provide a user with more than one type of movement in order to exercise abdominal and other muscles. Prior to the existence of abdominal exercise devices, a person would perform a variety of different types of exercises in order to develop his/her abdominal muscles. For example, a user performing sit-ups or crunches may work the muscles of the abdomen.
Different exercise machines have been designed to help building and strengthening the abdominal muscles and also to help the user to lose abdominal fat. In order to develop a system that build and strengthen the abdominal muscles, basic knowledge about the abdominal group of muscles is needed (anatomy, site of origin, site of insertion, mechanism of action, and direction of contracture for each of the muscles which constitute part of the abdominal wall).
Most abdominal exercise machines focus on one group of muscle in the abdominal wall. The attention of these exercise machines is brought to either the rectus abdominus muscle, which is the muscle in the front of the abdomen, or the side muscle of the abdominal wall (external and internal oblique muscles).
A shortcoming of these devices is that they are typically limited in their focus to particular abdominal muscles, are limited in their range of motion causing a “one-size fits all” type of exercise device, and may require the user to use the device in a body position that is uncomfortable or impractical for certain body types. In addition, these devices may not provide for the ability to increase the resistance or range of motion to permit a wide-range of users of varying strengths, body types, and fitness levels to use the exercise device. Such exercise devices may also lack the ability to simultaneously provide an aerobic and/or cardiac training function.
A desirable feature of an abdominal exercise device provides for more than a single type of movement (e.g., lateral, longitudinal, pivotal, etc.) of the user's body in order to provide a wide variety of abdominal exercises. Additional features and objects of the invention are described further below.